Lehigh Commissioners Put Off Action On Water Company Buyouts

A recommendation on whether the Lehigh County commissioners should permit the Lehigh County Authority (LCA) to purchase two private water companies in the Schnecksville area was postponed last night.

The commissioners' Planning and Administration committees postponed their recommendation to allow more debate on the controversial subject, according to Kenneth Mohr, chairman of the Administration Committee.

The LCA wants to purchase, upgrade and eventually connect together the Penn Hills and North Schnecksville water systems as a first step toward creating a public water system for the area. But two-thirds of the elected commissioners must approve the purchase of the two water systems.

The LCA's request to purchase the water companies has stirred a debate among the commissioners on the merits of creating a public water supply in a part of the county designated as a low-growth region.

The Joint Planning Commission of Lehigh-Northampton Counties has designated the Schnecksville area as a low-density development area, and claims the creation of a centralized public water system would promote undesirable growth.

The LCA notes that the Schnecksville area is rapidly developing without a public water system, and despite its JPC designation as a low growth area. The LCA claims a central water system would improve the reliability of water supply for the residents. The LCA claims the Penn Hills water system is below state standards for supply, and the Schnecksville North system will soon be substandard in supply.

The two housing developers that built and now operate the water systems have said they want to get rid of them because they are a nuisance to own and maintain.

Mohr said the planning and administration committees deferred a recommendation to the full board of commissioners until a meeting can be held among the LCA, JPC and county commissioners to discuss the matter. The date of the meeting is not known, Mohr said.

On another topic, the committees also deferred a recommendation on whether the board should approve the allocation of $100,000 to a small-business loan program to be administered by the Small Business Center at Lehigh University. The center claims it can get a $500,000 grant from the federal government to set up a revolving loan program for small businesses in Lehigh and Northampton counties if both counties also show their support by contributing $100,000 each.

Mohr said Lehigh County favors the program and has written a letter pledging to give the money. But he said before recommending the expenditure, he and other county officials will try to convince the Northampton County Council to give $100,000 to the program.

Mohr said that Northampton council voted 5-4 not to give the money at its last meeting, but the council members did not have much information about the program and thus were hesitant to allocate their share.

If the loan program is set up, the total $700,000 in federal and county money would be added to at least $1.4 million that private banks would agree to provide. County commissioner John Broscious said the government money would be "a sweetener" to encourage the banks to provide loan money. Commissioner Jane Baker said in the Lehigh Valley, which has a higher unemployment rate than the state and the nation, "the key to our future will be small business."

In other action, the committees recommended that the county administration study the possibility of setting up a bond bank, under which the county would float bonds to borrow large amounts of money that would then be lended in smaller amounts at low interest rates to municipalities and school boards that need the money for capital improvements. The purpose of the bond bank would be to enable local governments or schools to borrow small amounts of money without expensive loan fees.